Oil-well swab



`lune 12, 1923.

v 1,458,151 L E. ROBINSON June '1.2, 19231.

L.. E. RoBlNsoN- vOIL WELL swAB Filed Aug..V 12 1921 3 sheets-sheet 3 lotemxted .lune l2, i923.

I namen sTaTas eaTsnT cranes.

LAWRENCE E. BQBINSON, DECEASED, LATE 0F COFFEYVILLE, KANSAS," BY EDITH A.

BENSON, 'ADMINISTRATRIX, 0E GOFFEYVILLE, KANSAS.

GIL-WELL SWAB.

Application led August 12, 1921. Serial Ein. 491,718. l

To all whom t my concern.'

Be it known thatl, EDITH A. RoniNsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Coffeyville, Montgomery County, Kansas, declare that LAWRENCE E. ROBINSON, deceased, invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil-Well Swabe; and l do de- Clare the following to be a full, clear7 and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art towhich it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures 'of reference marked thereon, which form a part of/ this specification.

This invention relates to oil well swabs and particularly to a'novel construction of swab which will possess certain advantages not inherent in swabs now generally employed- For example, the invention involves the inclusion of means for unloading the oil when the column of oil is greater than the capacity of the elevating means'for raising it.

Another object ofthe invention is to provide means whereby the maximum depth below the surface of the oil at which the swab willbe effective to'raise the amount or weight of oil from the well can be determined.

Novel arrangements of packing Aor lift rings are also provided to prevent leakage of the oil on the upstroke of the swab, t e valve or lift rings being so arranged that the swab can be convenlently lowered into the well preparatory to raising the column of oil, this function being e'ective with the minimum of friction.

lt is also the purpose of the invention nerally improve theconstruction of oil the operating perto wel swabs to lmprove ormance of the same in a novel and inea# nsive manner.

With these objects .in view and in order to improve generally the type of device above enumerated, the invention consists in a certain novel arrangement of parts and combinations of arts, all of which will be specifically described hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, 1n which 'y i F ig. 1 is an'elevational view of a swab 'constructed in accordance with my invention being lowered into an oil well casing, thevoll well casing being shown in section. fl* 1g. 2 1s a simi ar view of the swab moving upward lwith the oil wellcasing shownV in section.

'Fig 3 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional new through the swab and oil well casing.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a lift ring or valve.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view through a modified form of lift ring., and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line of Fig. 4. 'I

The oil well casing 1 may heef preferred construction and may be introduced into the oil well inthe usual way. The

oil well swab is shown as consisting of an elongated tubular member 2 having an internally threaded upper end 3 and an eirternall' threaded lower end e. Between the endsl o the tubular member 2 is an integral collar 5 and above it is a plurality of inlet openings 6. Above. the collar 5 is a longitudinally slidable sleeve 7,y the inner face of which is spaced away from the outer face of the tube 2 by flanges 8 and 9 to reduce the friction when the sleeve slides upon the tube 2. The inner lower face of the sleeve 7 is threaded at 10 to receive a ring valve 11 adapted normally to rest upon the collar 5 and t close oi communication between the well casing and the inlet openings 6.

The upper end of the sleeve 7 is provided with internal threads 12 and external threads 13. The internal threads receive a packing ring 14 to hold the packing 15 between it and the fiange 8 in place. The external threads 13 receive the adjustin and lock collars orv nuts 16 and 17, preerably provided with Spanner openin whereby they can be adjusted upon te constructed as shown in Fig. 4, consisting nf segments 2l, 22 and 23, each of which 1s provided with an overlapping portion or ltongue 24 and a shouldered or cut-away portion 25 whereby the ends of the segments will overlap one another. Each segment is shown as comprising an angleshaped member to receive a filler 26, preferably of rubber or rubber and fabric, the outer edge 27 of which may slightly overlap the angle- -shapeddiolder so that the edge 27 may bear against the inner face of the oil well casing. The segments are held together by a continuous ring member 20 having upstanding pins 33, which project through slots in the filler 26 and through slots in the overlapping portions of complementary segment members, the angles and the ring 20 forming a channel for each segment,

`within which the filler 26 is received.

The inner circumference of each ring is inclined, as at 28, to ride upon a cone 29, there being a cone 29 for each packing ring or valve and each cone is the same width as its ring so that the ring will have relative movement with respect thereto, the rin s being supported by the collar 18. The ower cones are supported by the shoulder 3() on the sleeve 7 and each upper cone is supported by the cone below it.

As heretofore explained, there is means provided whereby the lift rings or valves 20 may have movement independent of the sleeve so that they can contract and expand, as will be clearly seen in Fig. 4, it being observed inthat ligure that the tongues 24 areslightly spaced from the abutting edges of the shoulders or recesses of the complementary ringvso that they may expand and the l,

lowered into the oil well and the column segments are .all held together by the overlapping tongues 3l, which are provided with slots 32 to receive the pins 33 in a comple-I mentary segment, the slots allowing for the necessary radial expansion and contraction. The lower end of the tube 2 receives a threaded collar 34, on which rests one end 35 of anexpansion spring v36,the upper end of which bears against the face 37 of the sleeve'v or hood 38, which extends below the bottom of the tube 2 and carries a plug valve 39, which is adapted to seat upon the seat 40 threaded into the tube 2 at 41. Therefore, the spring will tend to maintain the valve 39 closed or seated.

The upper internally threaded portion 3` face of the oil well tube lfwill cause the rings to slide up on the faces of their cones and also raise the sleeve '7 on the tube 2, the upward movement of the sleeve being limited by the collar 45 on the coupling 42. The sleeve T, however, can rise far enough to cause the ring valve 11 to uncover the ports 6, allowing oil below the packing rings 20 to enter the ports 6, pass through the tube 2 and exit through the discharge ports 44 so that the oil will be above the valve or packing rings 20.

When the swabhas been lowered into the oil at approximately the correct depth, the operating means will be operated so as to raise the swab. The initialv upward movement of the swab will cause the rings 20 to move downwardly, carrying with them the sleeve 7', causing the `valve ring 11 to close off the ports 6 so that the oil maybe trapped above the rings 20 and the column of oil supported by said rings can be raised to the top of the oil-well. If, bychance,'the column of oil is greater than can be handled by the elevating means, that is, if it is so heavy that the elevating means at the top of the oil well cannot raise it, the hydrostatic pressure on the plug valve 39 will preponderate over the spring 36 so that the valve 39 will unseat and the oil will exhaust from ports 44 through the opening closed by the plug valve 39 until the swab israised to a suflicient height within the oil well casing to allow the spring 36 to preponderate over the hydrostatic pressure to close the valve 39. Then the column of oil above the packing or valve rings 20 can be raised to the .top

,of the oil well and measured.

After a given time the swab can again be It will bepobserved that the valve 39 is4 an .overload or unloading valve, which will free the swab of overload .in the event that it has beenrlowered too deep into the well before the upward stroke takes place.

It will also be observed that by adjusting the nut or adjustable collar 34 the spring can be set to operate at varying depths below the level of the oil and that the construction i of the ring 2O is such that the swab can be lowered into the well with the minimum of vfriction and with reasonable assurance 'of lar member having an inlet port at its middle portion and an outlet port'at its up per end, oil lift rings slidable on the tubular -member and having means for covering and uncovering the inlet port, and an overload relief valve cerried by the tubular member at its lower end and adaptedto open when the hydrostatic pressure above the swab pre-` ponderates over the closing tendency of the valve.

In testimony whereof I afix 1n signature.

` EDITH A. RO INSON. Administmwz'm for Lawrence E'. Robinson,

deceased. 

